Elkmont's Haven Kirby dribbles up the court against Tanner in Thursday's game. Kirby led the Red Devils with 19 points in Elkmont's 52-46 victory.

First-year Elkmont girls basketball coach Sam Wallace said his players have had a mental block when it comes to defeating other schools in Limestone County. But Thursday night, the Red Devils went a long way toward removing that block as they came from behind in the fourth quarter to defeat Tanner 52-46.

“Mentally, for us, the battle is we don’t think we can beat Ardmore, don’t think we can beat East, don’t think we can beat West, and don’t think we can beat Tanner,” Wallace said. “And for us to win this game, maybe that gets us over the hump of ‘We can’t do this.’ We’re not as bad as we play against those four teams. This is our sixth game against those four teams and we’re 1-5. And they aren’t that much better than we are.”

For much of the game, it looked as if the Red Devils would once again lose to a county rival, as Tanner outscored Elkmont 16-9 in the second quarter to take a 23-16 halftime lead. But Elkmont battled back in the third quarter to cut the deficit to three points, and then outscored Tanner 20-10 in the fourth quarter to take the victory.

“The fourth quarter epitomizes our kids,” Wallace said. “All year, we’ve played a bad second quarter in a bunch of games, but we are a fourth-quarter team. We always play better in the second half. We never quit.”

It is not the first time Elkmont has come back in the fourth quarter to win. The Red Devils found themselves down 10 points to Lexington Dec. 14 before coming back to win 59-58. Elkmont also nearly came back from an 18-point deficit the first time it played Tanner before falling 47-44.

“Their energy and effort is consistent, and they just continue to grind, and eventually good things start to happen,” Wallace said. “Our saying is the team that plays the hardest gets the breaks, and that’s what happened in the fourth quarter.”

Haven Kirby scored 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead the Red Devils, while Morgan Morris scored 17 and Emeril Hand added eight.

Tanner was led by Keyera Jeanes with 14 points and Shauna Fletcher with 10.

Boys

Tanner 56, Elkmont 45

The boys game followed a similar script as the girls game, just with the teams in opposite roles. Elkmont jumped out to a 25-17 halftime lead before Tanner came back in the second half to take the victory.

Tanner coach Chris Whitt said it took a while for his players to knock off the Christmas-break rust.

“I really hate being out for Christmas, to be honest with you,” Whitt said. “It seems every year when we’re out of school, we don’t have a good rhythm at all. And it took us two-and-a-half quarters to put forth any effort tonight. Hat’s off to Elkmont. They did a good job coming out playing hard and they made us work for it.”

Tanner couldn’t get much of anything going offensively in the first half, as Elkmont’s defense held the Rattlers to just 17 points.

However, Tanner climbed back into the game in the third quarter and went into the fourth trailing just 36-35. The Rattlers then dominated the final period, outscoring the Red Devils 21-9 to pull away for the comfortable win.

“We made a little run in the third quarter that gave us some momentum, and basketball is all about momentum,” Whitt said. “And we wore them down a little bit in the fourth. The defense was the difference, because we’re not making very many shots right now. Hopefully, that will come.”

J.J. Jones led Tanner with 22 points and 12 rebounds, while Nathan Montgomery added 18 points. Malik Atkins also had 10 rebounds for the Rattlers.

Elkmont was led by Layton Smith with 13 points and Ryan Boyd with nine.

Other Games

Girls

Clements 67, Shoals Christian 15

Clements got balanced scoring from the entire roster in a blowout win over Shoals Christian Thursday evening.

Clements led 22-6 after one quarter, then outscored Shoals Christian 35-3 over the second and third quarters to put the game completely out of reach.

Four Colts players scored in double figures. Emrey McGill scored 16 points, Abby Craig added 13, Rilee Gilliam made 12 and Darby Moore tallied 11.

Boys

Clements 60, Shoals Christian 51

Three Clements players combined to score 47 points to lead Clements to its second win of the season and its first win over a team from Alabama.

Clements’ only other win this season was a 60-58 win over Huntington (Tennessee) in the Ardmore Thanksgiving Tournament.

J.T. Farrar led the Colts with 18 points, while Shane Starnes added 16 points and Miles Fleming chipped in 13. Fleming also led Clements with eight rebounds in the victory.